Azerbaijan Won’t Have Egyptian-Style Protests, Aliyev Says

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said
Egyptian-style protests like the ones that brought down leader
Hosni Mubarak a year ago cannot be replicated in Azerbaijan.

“You will not see in Azerbaijan what you have seen in
Egypt no matter how you wish it,” Aliyev said in English during
a panel discussion in Munich on Feb. 3. He was answering a
participant who likened Azerbaijan to Mubarak’s Egypt. Aliyev’s
remarks were posted on his website late yesterday.

“We have a multiparty system with more than 10 parties in
our parliament,” Aliyev said. “We have free press. We have
freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Finally, we have free
Internet.”

Aliyev said Azerbaijan’s economy tripled during his eight
years in office. Poverty was cut to 7.6 percent from almost 50
percent. The government created more than 1 million jobs.
Azerbaijan’s foreign debt is as low as 6 percent of its gross
domestic product, Aliyev said.